22/02/2007

According to provisional data released yesterday by the European Audiovisual Observatory, film attendance increased approximately 4% in 2006 over the preceding year in 25 European countries. The data excludes territories such as Portugal and Bulgaria and includes Russia, Turkey and Romania (which, like Bulgaria, has only been part of the EU since January 2007).

Among the major markets, Germany (+7.4%) and France (+7.5%) reached higher results than those registered in 2005, while other large territories such as Spain (-4.7) and the U.K (-4.9%) showed a negative trend.

The most optimistic results come from the Baltic countries: admissions doubled in Lithuania, while Estonia (+40.2%) and Latvia (+22.7%) also registered impressive increases. A rise of 54.3% in the Slovak Republic guaranteed the country's best results since 1998 and a double-digit increase was registered in Austria (+10.6%), the Czech Republic (+21.4%), Finland (+11.5%) and Slovenia (+10.8%).

EU newcomer Romania showed a decrease of 4.6% while potential EU member Turkey (+27.8%) achieved the highest admissions levels since the early 1980s.

The Observatory data also establishes a link between the rise in admissions and the good performance of domestic films, particularly in France, where local productions achieved a market share of 45%, a figure only slightly inferior to the one obtained by US films (45.8%). Furthermore, Germany featured three local titles in its Top 10, ensuring the country’s highest recorded market share since 1991.

Central and Eastern European countries – such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania – registered improved national market shares as well.